The End
by Whitefoot
Summary: Rating just to be safe. Harry and Draco see each other for the last time, on opposite sides of the battlefield. With a twist.


Title: The End

Author: Whitefoot

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Harry/Draco

Summary: One-shot. Harry and Draco see each other for the last time, on opposite sides of the battlefield. With a twist.

A/N: Okay, I'm considering this my first REAL story. All of the others were ill-planned and badly written. I'm getting this up at the insistence of my buddy, fan_knight. Here's to you, bubs, I wouldn't have done this without you pestering me to post something. All flames will be used to barbecue Hermione and Ron over an open fire. Constructive criticism is always welcome, just don't be too harsh on me. 

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I never meant for things to turn out this way. Really, I didn't. I always imagined that, in the end, we'd be fighting side by side in the war -- though I never took too much time to decide which side we'd actually be on. Maybe that was my first mistake. Or maybe it was that I didn't step in when he was dabbling in the Dark Arts.

I knew he was changing -- descending into the type of madness and darkness that covered Voldemort himself. I saw it myself when his irises turned a crimson red, but I did nothing but lend him a spell to mask the odd color. I kept him in the light, I think, for a while. He never delved too deep or went to far when I was around. But then the unthinkable happened.

We were found out.

It was our own carelessness (snogging right in the middle of his common room) that allowed his friends to walk in on us. They were horrified. Well, maybe disgusted is a better word. I was promptly thrown out and he was shunned by the same people who had once stood by his side. I should've been worried when that didn't seem to bother him too much.

I was virtually whisked away by my housemates, hidden from sight like I was diseased and prevented from going to my classes. My homework was brought to me and not even Dumbledore himself was able to get to me (how a group of school children attempted that, I'm still not sure). The time blurred together, but I'm told I was absent for at least a month. In the end, it was my best friend who ended the confinement.

"Go to Dumbledore," She had said, "At least then I won't have to watch you slowly going insane. Maybe you can work something out with him. Just go,"

And I listened. After all, I knew that Dumbledore would help me. What I didn't know, however, was what had went on while I was under my impromptu imprisonment. I nearly had a heart attack when I learned that my lover had joined the Death Eaters only two weeks prior to my visit with the Headmaster. 

I really shouldn't have been surprised. He'd had his beliefs and I'd had mine, but I knew I couldn't -- no, I **wouldn't** -- serve Voldemort. I couldn't fight my love, either. I opted to be a fence-sitter and not join either side until it was clear which one would win. The cowardly choice, but what options did I really have?

I didn't have to wait long for my decision to be made for me. The Death Eaters were taking heavy losses and Voldemort, in all of his dark glory, decided to risk it all and storm Hogwarts. I made the choice with surprising ease -- I wasn't letting **anyone** destroy what had become like my home, not even the person who held my heart. 

That night, I marched out with the Order of the Phoenix (Dumbledore's not-so-secret anti-Voldemort group) to meet the Death Eaters in the battle that would decide the fate of our world as we knew it.

And now here I stand, face-to-face with the one person who I had hoped I would meet here. I'd slaughtered many of my former housemates without the slightest hint of emotion, but now… Now I froze at the mere sight of the raven-haired boy I'd been infatuated with for so long.

"Draco?" 

Apparently he hadn't expected to see me here, either. The thought was strangely comforting.

"Harry," What else was there for me to say? It was obvious by the darkening in his eyes that he realized I was here to stop the destruction of Hogwarts. I wouldn't lift a finger to him, but I knew that someone else would tonight.

"I'm sorry, Draco," 

I watched helplessly as he pointed his wand to the middle of my forehead. I was oddly calm though, as I saw Dumbledore trying desperately to push his way through to us. He wouldn't get here in time to save me, but I wouldn't be alone for long.

"I love you, Harry," 

"_Avada Kedavra_,"

It was the last thing I ever heard, that whisper. Then the world was engulfed in green and I wondered suddenly if this was what James and Lily Potter saw before they died. It wasn't painful, just sudden. I never meant for things to turn out this way…

Then everything went black.

~Fin

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Love it, hate it? Review, please! Be gentle! I know, it's short, but if I decide to write a full length story, it'll have a happy ending and be long! So, tell me what you think!


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